


if you ever want to dance with me

by orphan_account



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-05
Updated: 2012-11-05
Packaged: 2017-11-18 00:39:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/554979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Fine, I’ll go to prom with you,” she said. He grinned, his joy almost childlike to the point of actually lifting her spirits about the whole thing for a moment. She held up a finger in his face. “But, I don’t want anyone from the team knowing. It’s not an embarrassment thing. It’s a ‘M’gann would overreact and I don’t even want to imagine Zee or Robin’s reactions’ thing.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	if you ever want to dance with me

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place somewhere in the gap between seasons. Old fic, cross-posting from tumblr/ff.

Artemis would have been perfectly okay not going to prom. Really. Prom just didn’t seem like her sort of thing. Flowers and satin and classmates crammed into a hotel ballroom. Not her idea of fun. Naturally, Wally was all for going.

“Babe, it’ll be fun. I’ll be in a tux, you’ll be in a dress. We’ll end the night wearing significantly less,” he wheedled. She narrowed her eyes and he smirked. “Fine, maybe not that last half. But, it’d be like a mission. A mission of looking awesome.”

“I just don’t see the point. We dress up, I have to spend the whole day preparing and for what? For three hours at a dance where half the population is wasted and the other half is eagerly awaiting the after-party? And who would I see there, my four friends and everyone else that thinks I’m too poor to function? No thanks.” 

“We agreed to go to one of ours, and mine’s in our high school’s gym. Do you really want to go to the place where thousands of people have put their blood, sweat, and tears, or do you want to go somewhere nice?” 

“I actually like blood, sweat and tears. It reminds me of my sister,” she glibly replied. 

“C’mon, there’s less idiots at your school! It’s fancy. Besides, we could go with your cool friends who make social commentary about your school, or my lame friends who talk to your boobs and have little to no social skills?”

“You don’t have friends.”

“Straight through the heart. But really Artemis. You agreed to go to one. Remember? And before you say you were drunk, you don’t drink.” 

She sighed, looking at his freckled face. He really wanted to go, that much was obvious from the eager expression on his face. This was one of those normal things that he wanted to do with her. There were several of them—like officially ‘dating’, as boyfriend and girlfriend, going on dates to the movies, making out in the backseat of his parent’s car.

So much of her life hadn’t been normal, and it was like he thought that he had to introduce her to normalcy. 

“Fine, I’ll go to prom with you,” she said. He grinned, his joy almost childlike to the point of actually lifting her spirits about the whole thing for a moment. She held up a finger in his face. “But, I don’t want anyone from the team knowing. It’s not an embarrassment thing. It’s a ‘M’gann would overreact and I don’t even want to imagine Zee or Robin’s reactions’ thing.”

“That’s good with me. So, are you going to make me get down on one knee and ask you now, or…?”  
“You’ve been watching too many teen movies with M’gann,” Artemis replied, rolling her eyes. The things she did for this boy. Really. 

.x.

It took exactly four hours for M’gann to find out. Artemis should have been less surprised, psychic bonds and being basically sisters usually led to few secrets. But she was still disgruntled by the event.

“M’gann, it really isn’t a big deal. Seriously, I know in all the teen movies, it is, but in real life? It’s not,” Artemis said as the girls milled around the cave’s kitchen. Zatanna was struggling not to giggle and Artemis fixed her with a glare.

“But you still get to dress up! Ours isn’t until next month.” M’gann sighed. “I’m jealous. Can we go to see what dress you’re picking out? Please? That’s what they did in Twilight and I’ve always wanted to.” 

“Megan,” Zatanna replied, finally full out grinning. “I’ve told you not to admit to watching—and enjoying—that movie. It makes you look bad.”

“Right! But anyway, please Artemis? You can come with me and Zee when we pick out ours.” 

Seriously, she could not believe this was her life sometimes. However “too much” M’gann became on occasion, though, was always overshadowed by what a great friend that she was. A sister who stuck around for more than fifteen minutes when she was feeling bored and obnoxious, for sure. 

“Fine.” Her voice sounded tired and defeated, even to her own ears, but that’s what happened when she was faced with boundless cheerfulness. 

.x.

“Babe, you look totally smokin’.” A green eye winked at Artemis as she stood in a blue dress. Artemis groaned and flopped into a nearby chair. Then realizing how expensive the dress was, she scrambled back up.

“M’gann, this is weird. I mean, what if that sales lady comes back?” Artemis played with the ends of her hair nervously. M’gann shifted from her faux-Wally appearance into her own looks.

“I’m just trying to give you an outside perspective.”

“Yeah, A, it’s an outside perspective,” Zatanna smirked at her friend. Artemis stuck her tongue out at the magician. “Anyways, I am officially buying the most expensive dress I can find because my date said he’d buy. So it looks like it’s that little black number in the corner.”

“Black’s for funerals,” Artemis teased.”Besides, your prom’s not for another month. And you’re just now buying?”

“Says the girl that waited until she only had a week. And I’m going to multiple proms. The one with Raquel, as friends, and this other one with a guy,” Zatanna’s voice changed pitch on the unnecessary explanation of Raquel, but neither of her friends commented on it.

“Mmhmm,” Artemis agreed, trying to clear the awkward out of the air. “But anyway, I don’t like that one.” 

“Mine’s pink,” M’gann commented, apropos of nothing. The other two turned to find their friend having shifted into a pink dress that matched one on a hanger nearby. “It’s pretty.”

“Conner will love you in it. Now we just need to find one for Ms. Thing here.” 

“What about this one?” Megan’s empty hands suddenly had a dress in them, and she shoved it into Artemis’s face. “This one is perfect.” 

“I’ll try it, I guess,” Artemis said tentatively, feeling the gauzy material between her fingers before trying it on. When she walked out of the dressing room, Zatanna’s jaw nearly dropped and M’gann squealed.

“You have to buy it! If you don’t have enough money, you have to steal it. It’s the dress. Batman could totally pay for it, and he would if I asked him,” Zatanna said. “You look good. Better than usual, anyway.” 

“Wally will love it!” M’gann clapped. Artemis smiled. He would love it. Hell, despite all her cynicism, she loved it too. She just hoped she could hide her crossbow in it. 

 

.x.  
“Babe, you look great.” 

There was something in Wally’s voice that made her look up, and he was staring at her like she was the prettiest thing that he had ever seen. For a second she let herself get overwhelmed because never in a million years did she ever think that anyone would look at her like that, but then she let it go. 

This was prom. 

“You don’t look bad yourself.” And he really didn’t. The black tie with the green tie that matched her dress perfectly, courtesy of Mrs. West, and the suit actually fit. For some reason she had expected him to come in some powder blue, ruffled concoction just because he thought it’d be hilarious. 

But he looked damn good. Artemis realized that, oddly, she wasn’t dreading prom. Sure, she would rather be kicking some goon’s front teeth out, but there were also worse ways to spend an evening. She wondered if he had gotten that hotel room after all. 

x

It was the last song. Not of the night, there was probably an hour more of the night but Artemis had convinced him to do some patrolling. Actually, he had bet her that she couldn’t patrol in her heels and she had managed to finagle that into them patrolling post-dance.

“Wally, don’t overreact but there’s this kid like staring at us. I mean, through a camera, but still, it’s focused on us,” 

Wally’s eyes narrowed as he glanced around. “What the fu—” but when he saw who it was—Artemis was pretty sure his name was Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne’s adopted brat—he started laughing hysterically. 

“What’s wrong with you? Go be a good boyfriend and defend me from Mr. Creepy Stalker before I kick his ass myself.”

He kept laughing for a while before straightening up and wiping the tears from his eyes. “Okay, I’ll go save the creepster from a broken nose. One sec.” 

Wally went over to the guy, but he didn’t even look appropriately upset. He gestured a few times, they both said something that the music drowned out, and then they both started laughing together. Artemis tromped over to the pair. 

“Listen, creep-ass. My dumbass of a boyfriend here is obviously not getting it. Stop taking pictures of us. It’s weird,” she 

“You’ll thank me someday,” Dick Grayson replied before he slipped through the crowd and disappeared.

“What the hell was that?” Artemis spun on Wally, who looked like he was about to crack up again.

“Calm down, A. He’s on the yearbook staff. I made a joke about how I shouldn’t be in it because I don’t go here and he made a joke about this tv show and we just were joking about it,” Wally explained and Artemis visibly softened. “Y’know, babe. You could stand to be more traught.”


End file.
